Straight Down the Middle

To fulfill his promise as a healer and a uniter, Obama should avoid aligning himself with the two hostile camps of liberals and conservatives and instead walk the fine line between the two, argues Fareed Zakaria. “The present crisis presents an opportunity for Obama to recast the traditional divide in American politics,” he writes. “Rather than the usual left-right split over the size and role of government, he has to address himself to the greatest problem most Americans have with Washington: they see their government as predatory and corrupt...If he truly wants to mold the future, Obama will have to demonstrate similar leadership” to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.